Cultural Observations From a Socially Awkward Bad Ass

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House music, Angolan Music, Funk, Soukous …this party was lit af!! First the venue,Ngor Yaatouna was a dreamy spacious beachfront. Then there were so many interesting people, unique hairstyles, and fashion. This was a great way to end my Birthday Month! The awesome lighting and electric vibes made for an amazing night with friends. Electrafrique always brings out a cool crowd and I was happy to see some familiar faces. The DJ lineup was the legendary in itself. International club movers such as Cortega & Jeremy Bellot kept everyone on their toes. Boddhi Seva, hailing from the Central African Republic was the headliner and he lived up to expectations. I didn’t hear any Mbalaax/house blends but I think that would be really dope if mixed right. Either way, I speak for us all when I say Come back OKAYAFRICA !!! Dakar needs you!

Chez Fatou..I’ve heard so much about you. I’m glad we finally met! The scenery was beautiful and the mimosas did not disappoint. The seating area was open and had a great view to the oceans and the midday surfers.

Service is really important to me and the people who served me and amiga that day were super helpful! They even sent a waiter who spoke English to help us. The menu is in English, with lots of choices. Unfortunately, the breakfast/brunch menu closes at 11:30 which I find to be a bit early. There are a few vegetarian choices, some local dishes, and lots of international ones. For an appetizer, we chose the Crab Dip and it was toooooo yummy ( but quite small) ! For our entree, I ordered the chicken with au gratin but the food lacked a little flavor. Perhaps they cater to a certain palate but it is defiantly not for those of us who grew up in households that utilize seasoning ( shade but it’s all love 🙂 ) My friend ordered Shrimp Alfredo & she said it was okay. I’m defiantly open to going back and trying different items because overall it’s a great place to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon.

UPDATE: After visiting 2 more times and receiving terrible service I’m confused as to what happened. I waited 25 minutes to be given a menu and after getting out my seat to ask what was going on, the host seemed unbothered at all. I personally took the menus back to our seat and still waited another ten minutes to get a waiter…and it wasn’t busy at all. The servers didn’t apologize and the mangers on duty did not seem like they were doing anything. I’m not sure how they are managing the tables but I think they need a new system.

Welcome to my second favorite place in Dakar. Gogo’s Cupcake & Coffee Shop is located across the street from College Sacre Couer. When you walk in you will be amazed to see the quaint pink entry table and couch. You will momentarily forget you’re in Dakar and start really feeling like you’re on a trip to Wonderland!! You can tell the owner loves pink and so do we! I really appreciate how much attention she paid to detail and the woman working the register was extremely accomadating. It’s the perfect place to begin a girl’s day out on the town. It’s in the cut but it’s so worth it. There are usually 6 different types of cupcakes on any given day. Today there is

Vanilla

Caramel Popcorn PopCake

Red Velvet

Double Chocolate

Chocolate with vanilla icing

Chocolate with Strawberries

There menu is also full of tea, coffee, espresso, crepes, quiches, smoothies & even croque monsieur . I’ll attach the link to her Facebook page below. Tell me if you like it!

Mafe is the ultimate comfort food in Dakar. It is also well known to make you very tired. I tried to stay as authentic as possible but I added a lot more vegetables in order to make it a bit more hearty.

Ingredients

1 Onion

2 Carrots

2-3 Potatoes

1 cup of chopped butternut squash/ melon

1 White sweet potato cubed

1 medium cassava root

10-15 pods of Okra (leave 5-7 unchopped)

3 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 -4 large spoons of peanut butter (depending on how peanut buttery you want it)